How to Prepare the Interior of Your Home Prior to Listing
- Adam Garrett
- Oct 21, 2022
- 10 min read
Updated: Jul 1
Image courtesy Raider Photography at a former listing of mine
Before listing your home, and even before a listing appointment for your home, if time is on your side, it's a good idea to take steps to prepare your home for it. If in doubt about something even the slightest, ask your agent or wait for your agent's guidance, and if they don't say something about it, ask.
Marking Items You Plan to Adjust or that You Have Questions About
If you only have time to take care of exterior items before a listing appointment, and the season is changing for the worse, it's not a bad idea to mark those items on the interior that you plan on taking care of (with blue painter's tape & labels of what you plan to do) so that as the prospective listing agent goes through your home, he can see your plans, not repeat what you already plan to do, and have advice more targeted to what you don't yet know. Also, your agent may advise that you do something differently than what's on your label, or not at all. If you're unsure about something, you could even put a "?" or a few possibilities.
Cost-effective interior preparations for your listing include the following:
Paint & Caulk
1. Paint is one of the most cost-effective ways to prepare the interior & exterior of your home for sale if you have peeling paint, a bad paint job, or need to make some adjustments to scuffs and marks, but I've seen plenty of situations where a DIY paint job has gone very badly. I've seen where even the contractors mess up a paint job, so be sure to check their work. Painters tape, drop cloths, the right paint colors, the right type of paint, different coats of paint, preparing surfaces prior to paint, testing paint in a small area, matching textured paint, and keeping in mind the changing color of paint based on age are all important to note. 2. Caulk on the interior and exterior, where failing or missing, can be another highly effective way to get your exterior in good shape for purchase.
3. If in the process of decluttering or moving out items are removed from walls, leaving holes in the wall or other paint defects, be sure to patch things up and make the paint look as homogenous as possible.
Declutter
It's a good idea to declutter if you have any clutter in your home. Everything should look like you're very organized, even if you're not.
A photographer may be quickly going through your home in under 30 minutes without time for you to play musical chairs in your home if you are planning on doing that for photos, rearranging things from one room to another. If that's completely unavoidable, be sure to let the photographer know to shoot one room first, then have you immediately start moving things from another room to that one, and then do the room that you move items from last. If you're doing a Matterport virtual tour, which Adam always does with his listings, be sure to do it at the same time as the photos if possible, otherwise, you may need to play musical chairs again with your belongings.
It's a good idea to remove the following before pictures:
Remove knickknacks, trophies, and collections, since you want buyers to focus on your home, not your knickknacks or collections.
If you have valuables like jewelry or guns, be sure that they are out of sight, or even better, in a heavy safe or outside of the home.
If you have any pets, there should be no sign of them in the photos. If you have a "beware of dog" sign, you should remove it for pictures and throughout the listing period.
If you have any boxes, there should be no sign of them in the photos.
Bathroom rugs
Items from countertops if they look cluttered, i.e. in the bathroom, bedrooms, living spaces, and kitchen.
After decluttering a shower/bath if needed, it's typically best to pull back the curtain when it's time for pictures as long as behind it doesn't look bad.
Clean, Deodorize, & Place Equipment for Future Cleaning
Cleaning is one of the most cost-effective means of getting your home ready for sale. Be sure to thoroughly clean your home (whether DIY &/or with professionals).
You probably already know the basics: windows, floors, walls, ceilings, fixtures, etc.
Don't forget about cleaning places like the space between the window and the screen, cobwebs/dust on the ceiling, and dust on top of fans.
Even if something isn't conveying with the house, be sure that staging elements and other personal property is clean.
When you clean, in some cases, it may bring up negative scents if something hasn't been cleaned well in a long time. It's best to take care of something like that long before listing so that the scents may dissipate.
Use scentless deodorizers rather than scented ones, but if at all possible, eliminate smell sources rather than just masking them. Covering up actual problems like mold without taking care of them can get you in legal trouble (though I'm not an attorney) since you are required to disclose material adverse facts and not hide latent defects. Visible deodorizers, even if scentless, can be a yellow flag to buyers wondering what's being hidden.
It's ideal for each bathroom to have a plunger & toilet brush. If they aren't in each bathroom, a buyer who uses it is less likely to use it rather than searching for one.
If you have cigarette butts in an ashtray, it's best to hide both since a buyer may have strong feelings against smoking, & even if they don't, they may become concerned about the scent in the house if they see that. If any images would not be suitable for children, it's best not to have them visible since small children may be tagging along with their parents.
It's a good idea to have options for cleaning at the home even if it's vacant like brooms, dust pans, and a vacuum cleaner.
Repair/Replace
If you have hardwood floors that look terrible, consider refinishing them.
Go through your home and check to see if any lightbulbs are out. Be sure to replace them if so. If lightbulbs are mismatched (especially in terms of color, but also if the shapes are very different), make sure that they all match.
If it's been >2 months since you had the air return filters replaced, or you recently did painting or other renovations, swap out the air return filters.
Be sure that your home is stocked with:
Pest Control
Did you know that some buyers will walk out of a property and rule it out after spotting a single cock roach? I've seen it happen right in front of me with buyers I've represented. It's critical to eliminate pests to maximize a sale, whether you hire a professional exterminator or go about it DIY.
Don't forget about areas that you don't typically traverse, like scuttle access attics. In places like that, if you have mouse traps, check to see if there are any mice in them. If so, replace the trap asap and try to resolve any rodent infestation prior to sale. If you don't see any mice or insects in any related traps, and it's been a long time since you have, it's not a bad idea to remove those right before sale so that buyers don't get the wrong impression of you having a problem.
Have a fly swatter in a place like above the refrigerator so that if flies get in the home, they can be taken care of.
Photos & Religious Items: you may want to make the home welcoming to as diverse of an audience as possible.
Keep in mind that some of the below are controversial topics. Many in my position would exclude those from this article because of it. Me being honest with buyers or sellers & keeping my fiduciary duty of taking the interests of the client above my own is more important than whether or not I work with someone if they happen to get turned off by something I candidly state, even something that happens to be controversial. For instance, most Klu Klux Clan members would probably not like some of what I state in this article. In the event that you ever believe that what I state is wrong, I invite you to engage with me directly on the subject.
Related: Why Buyers & Sellers Often Choose Not to Work with Honest Real Estate Agents & How To Avoid That
1. Remove any photos of family and friends; you want the buyers to feel at home no matter what they look like, whatever age they are, how big or small their family is, what race they are, what religion they are, etc.
2. Some sellers opt to remove any religious materials, especially if they are not Christians since Christianity is the most popular religion in America with the most buyers who would relate to it among religions with the least negative stigmas attached due to its statistical popularity. That said, some sellers find that they would be turning their back on their religion to do so, so it's really up to you as a seller to determine what your beliefs are on the subject. It's possible that you'll leave some things with more widespread appeal (i.e. something about 1 Corinthians 13, a passage on love commonly shared in weddings), while removing something that is more polarizing. Sometimes other religious quotes or religious people's quotes outside of Christianity can be relatively non-controversial as well, such as quotes on peace from Gandhi. The primary key to religious statements not harming your sale is a universal appeal to people regardless of their faith preferences. It's up to you as far as how you want to handle the issue ethically as you consider your own convictions, but in terms of resale, generally widespread or universal appeal will yield the highest prices. There was once a listing of another agent where I represented the owner on their purchase that wasn't selling where I recommended among other things that they remove the Buddha statue that was visible in pictures. Once that happened and some other recommendations of mine were taken, it sold soon after.
3. Keep photos (i.e. of landscapes or architecture without people) and art that would have universal appeal no matter the background, race, religion, or age of the buyer. Also keep in mind that if you're non-white, and the appraiser can tell, you may face racial discrimination, despite the fact that it's illegal. Did you know that more than 97 percent of home appraisers are white? If you have 5 separate buyers making offers, and none of them are racist, but you encounter a racist appraiser, it could cost you. I've personally seen a large appraisal gap before between when an African American couple lived somewhere vs after they had moved out and the race of the owner was less apparent. The first appraisal was for $368,000, while I believed that was low. The property sold and appraised at the time of sale for $455,000, which was within $5k of what I recommended that it be listed for. A bit of work was done to the property in between at my recommendation, but it was primarily paint/caulking touch-ups that the sellers hired out and likely under $5k. While there was some appreciation, appreciation did not account for that substantial of a difference either.
4. Remove controversial or non-welcoming (at least to some groups of people) other items, as long as you don't have a moral objection to do so as I shared in the religious section above, such as the following:
A. No trespassing signs
B. Confederate flags,
C. Rainbow flags
D. Books like Mein Kempf by Hitler or the Communist Manifesto by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx,
E. Political material that might lead someone to be able to guess your political affiliation
F. Anti-smoking/drinking material (i.e. my grandma used to keep a knick knack frog that said "Don't smoke; I might croak.")
5. When you remove photos & other decorations from your walls, be sure to repair your walls well and repaint so that it is as though the photos were never there.
Functional Essentials
The first thing to keep in mind with staging is functional essentials. These include:
Toilet paper (if water, power, & heat/AC will be on, which is ideal) & holders
Hand soap
Hand towels by sinks & holders
Floor mats at interior & exterior of each point of external entry into the home (& if applicable from garage to interior of home)
Trash cans (especially stainless steel or otherwise in good cosmetic shape; for plastic trashcans, putting it in a pull out designed for a trashcan with a label visible in that location is ideal when present) w/ bags for them
Toilet plungers and brushes
Poo-Pourri
Tissues
Footies for people to put on their shoes
A chair by the door with the footies
A minority of those who can stand may have difficulty bending down to put them on without a chair.
If you don't have the above, depending on your marketing/commission package with Adam, he can cover them.
Staging
As long as your furniture looks at least decent and doesn't make the space too cramped, it's often best to leave furniture in the home for staging purposes. These should be left in ideally for pictures and throughout the home selling process until the buyers are under contract on your home, past inspections, and get to the point (typically around a week to 3 days prior to closing) of being "cleared to close" by their lender (if not using $).
After Pictures Before Showings
Hide small valuables. While the photographer is trustworthy, & a Realtor would risk his license to steal, some agents won't be by their buyers' side always, especially with larger families, so it's not a bad idea to go ahead and get these items out of the way, in a safe, or in a safety deposit box.
It's ideal to label items that contribute value, function, or other appeal that aren't obvious after pictures & 3D tour. For mid & higher-tier marketing packages of all price ranges he serves, Adam has label holders available for your use. Examples include:
Newer appliances & systems
Soft close cabinets
Some sellers include a list of upgrades/new/newer items for buyers to take with them that they keep a stack of within the kitchen in addition. If doing so, be sure to distinguish between the items that are labeled around the home in 1 list and the items that are not labeled (i.e. 2021 roof, 90% efficiency 2021 HVAC in attic, etc.) in another section.
It's ideal to keep any warranties, surveys, instruction manuals, etc. in a neat and obvious place (i.e. the kitchen countertop) after the pictures & 3D tour are taken. Ideally, you'll have labeled folders that someone doesn't need to sift through much if at all to see the labels.
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